Made €20 into €707,665 at online casino - can't get the money out

Industry News

Bruno Venturi, 41, from Naples in Italy has sued the online operator Eurobet after they refused to pay him his winnings from their online casino.

It was on the evening of Wednesday, the 28th of January 2009 when Venturi deposited €20 on Eurobet's online casino to play the game Sixty Seconds.

After 40 minutes the €20 was made into €5,000. After two hours there was €200,000 in Venturi's account.

Eurobet explains that there was an error in the software - and it caused Venturi to only lose his stake every sixth time he played, thus making it mathematically impossible for him to lose any money.

"I had always lost previously... but when I started to win I had a very good feeling. I'm a player and my instincts told me to keep betting," said Venturi in the court. "How could I realise there was an error. There was no message, I was just drawing, I didn't have a clue... I thought I was very lucky."

After a winning session of three and a half hours Venturi chose to stop for the evening with a profit of €707,665.

"I realised the amount that I was winning and I realised that I had to stop. I had been lucky enough... I am only human. I was taken by the emotions and there was a lot of euphoria," said Venturi.